UND COMMUNICATION STUDENTS GIVE OUT CANDY DURING WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN A
REACCREDITATION VISIT

Members of the campus group "Students for Due
Process" decorated a hallway with a Halloween theme and gave away
literature and candy to commemorate the School of Communication
accreditation team visit that never was.

The students organized
late this summer to protest the university's decision to demote Lana
Rakow as director of the communication school. Rakow remains as a
professor of communication but has filed suit in federal court seeking
monetary damages and reinstatement to her post as director.Rakow was hired in 1994 and charged with winning reaccreditation for
the school. An accreditation review team site visit had been scheduled
for this week, but the visit was postponed by UND President Kendall
Baker after Rakow was demoted. Baker has pledged to seek accreditation
once a replacement has been hired for Rakow.An accreditation team visit now is expected to occur sometime in the
fall of 1998.

Acting director Dan Plato said Monday the replacement search
committee has advertised nationally, and has set an early January
application deadline. The goal is to hire a new director in time to take
over the school next fall.

Carol Ann Jones, a member of the student group said the quiet protest was just to call attention to the fact
that the accreditation team visit would have been taking place this week
if the UND administration hadn't demoted Rakow and delayed the process.

Plato said he knew of no policy that would prevent students from
setting up such protests.